The power of human connection – #NewYearNewUs
Ann Osborn is CEO of Rural Coffee Caravan, and founder of Meet Up Mondays. In this blog she talks about the power of human connection, and why free coffee and a conversation can make all the difference to someone who is feeling lonely.
Conversation is our social glue and yes, you can chat on social media but it will never replace the power of human connection. How people present themselves on social media can be a far cry from reality, and can make us feel rather inadequate and uninteresting. This is a long way from the truth; we humans are very interesting, but perhaps we need to be more interested.
Small moments of real life human connection can make a huge difference to someone who is feeling a bit lost or lonely. That’s why we started MeetUpMondays in Suffolk.
Free coffee and conversation
MeetUpMondays works with publicans and/or cafe owners who want to make a difference to their community by offering free cuppa and conversation sessions. So many times we have been told they have been life changing; that’s powerful feedback from such a simple idea.
“Yes you can chat on social media, but it will never replace the power of human connection.”
We started it almost by accident. We were inspired by The Alexandra in Wimbledon, whose landlord, Mick, is a committed community man and, supported by his wife Sarah, they certainly go the extra mile. With his permission we brought the idea to Suffolk. By branding it and making it a real ‘thing’ we attracted a lot of media coverage and, as a result, we are now running 50 MeetUpMondays in Suffolk! The network is now spreading out of Suffolk and there are about another 25 so far, dotted about the country. Essex have taken this to its heart and are starting 9 there.
We have been blown away by the success of this idea. It obvious from chatting to guests that this is a very different thing to standard coffee mornings (valuable though they most definitely are). There seems to be something very uplifting about being out ‘in real life’ at an event without a label or agenda. It isn’t dependent on volunteers or maintaining high numbers, so it is a consistent offering and it’s in a place that is designed for socialising.
“It’s a kind offer from a caring business to people who are sick of the same four walls, and it works. We call it MeetUpMonday Magic.”
Being the guest of the owner/manager/publican is special to ‘MeetUpMonday-ers’. They feel valued and know that this is for them, because life alone gets a bit dull. The atmosphere is fun and lively with so much chuckling! And we know that countless new friendships have been made that continue outside of the MeetUpMonday session.
Confidence grows and many visitors return at other times as paying customers, which expands their social life beyond these weekly events. The host gets to feel they are giving something back and the community feels it has a heart. It’s a kind offer from a caring business to people who are sick of the same four walls and it works. We call it MeetUpMonday Magic.
How to get involved
We want this network to grow and maybe new year it a great time to ask you for your help? Don’t worry about weighing less, eating less, drinking less, stressing less, let’s just be us!
In fact, let’s #BeMoreUs and ask local pubs or cafés if they might be interested? If there is one near you, pop along, or if you know someone that might enjoy it, offer to take them?
It’s still a small network but it has huge potential, and if we can all #BeMoreUs we can help it grow.
#NewYearNewUs